Page 63 (1/2)

"What happened?" he asked, pressing a kiss against the top of her head as he reached over and placed his hand carefully on her cast

"I beat the shit out of your brothers," she admitted with a sniffle

He chuckled weakly as he pressed another kiss against the top her head "That’s not what I meant"

"You beat the shit out of your father," she said, still regretting that she hadn’t been there to stop that "Your brothers had to pull you off and in the process your back was broken and the scar tissue fro free and caused so and remove the scar tissue, but your back-"

"I had weak spots in my vertebrae froled not to cry again "I was supposed to take it easy"

"They broke," she said, her voice breaking

He was quiet for a long time before he asked, "Was my spine compromised?"

"Can youthe question that they’d been asking hiained consciousness and terrified of his answer

"Yes," he said, and just to prove it, he brought his leg up slowly, bending it before he slowly returned it back to the bed and just like that, she lost it

"Shhhh, don’t cry, Tinkerbelle I’ly

"I’ to stop, but heaven help her, she couldn’t

He’d scared the hell out of her!

"Did you really beat up ain and obviously trying to distract her

"Yes," she admitted with a sniffle

"Why?"

"Because they hurt you"

"It was an accident," he said, but she didn’this tone

"I don’t care," shepain in her hand She could take one of the painkillers the doctors had prescribed her, but she’d been out of it enough over the last teeks to last her a lifetihing heavily "He started talking and I just lost it"

"Your father’s not reat, but that’s not really what I meant I want to knohy you leftaway," she said around a small sob, and , did she sound pathetic

"I wasn’t pulling away," he promised her

"Yes, you were," she said, because she knew the signs She’d seen it before with Jerry When she’d felt Danny do it, she’d decided to leave before he could hurt her She hadn’t been able to stoh that with Danny

"I would never leave you, Tinkerbelle," he said, gently cupping her chin and tipping her head so that she was looking up at hi?" she de to knohat kind of bullshit reason he could co He said that he hadn’t been pulling away fro your abduction," he said, blinking innocently down at her

She opened her mouth, but couldn’t quite find the words to respond to that declaration

"I had to et the ban te you off and ot a chance to run away," he explained cal dumbly up at hiet out